ASU professor briefs congressional committee

“For the first time in history, we are experiencing the ‘brain drain’ that other countries have experienced,” says ASU Regents’ Professor and Joaquin Bustoz Jr. Professor of Mathematical Biology Carlos Castillo-Chavez in a Sept. 23 article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

Reporter Libby Nelson interviewed Castillo-Chavez following his remarks at a briefing session of the House education committee’s higher-education subcommittee organized by Rep. Ruben Hinojosa (D-Texas).

As many U.S. trained mathematicians and scientists return to their homes in China or India, the U.S. is left with an inadequate supply to meet the country’s needs, explained Castillo-Chavez to members of Congress.

Castillo-Chavez and others urged the committee to increase spending on undergraduate scholarships and National Science Foundation support for recruitment of underrepresented minorities into these fields to meet the growing demand.

Castillo-Chavez is a professor in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences School of Human Evolution and Social Change where he is the director of degree programs in applied mathematics for the life and social sciences. He is also the director of the new Mathematical, Computational and Modeling Sciences Center which is home to several acclaimed programs that successfully recruit and mentor underrepresented minorities in mathematics and sciences.

Read more about applied mathematics for the life and social sciences opportunities for students at ASU:

Mathematical, Computational & Modeling Sciences Center

School of Human Evolution and Social Change